Putting aside the conundrum-causing juxtaposition of words the title evokes*, there is a new development that could take "Fly PDX" to a whole new level, if you get our drift. Check out this headline in the International Business Times:

Yes, that's right. The Portland, Oregon airport has indeed declared it acceptable for passengers to carry recreational marijuana - which is now legal in Oregon - on flights departing PDX, as long as the destination is within the state. And that's recreational marijuana, not medicinal.

Known for it's focus on service and its willingness to innovate, this latest move can only be descried as accommodating. What's funny is that there is no mention of this on the PDX website, however social media and news feeds are alive with the news.

If PaxEx means keeping travellers at your airport happy and relaxed, then PDX takes the cake. Oh, speaking of munchies...

*Do you share our conundrum? How can a list of domestic airports in the United States can be considered "world's best" (wouldn't that be "World's Best Airports - Domestic Airports USA" or "United States Best Airports - Domestic Airports"?!?)....We get what T+L is trying to do, but the liberties they take with wording their award titles makes us (non-Americans) shake our heads, just a little..

Sunday, 28 June 2015

A new innovation has been unveiled in the Baggage Claim area at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2.

Conveniently located where most arriving passengers will do most of their waiting - for their luggage to arrive at the carousels - the new digital smart screens will display all transportation options.
Information on the Heathrow Express airport train, Heathrow airport bus service and London taxi service is now available for the traveller to browse.

What's innovative is the way the screens integrate real-time weather and traffic information, as well as updates on rail service. With this data, the screens can generate relatively accurate travel times for each transport method. They will even estimate taxi fares, allowing the traveller to compare with other options.

Equally innovative is the way the screens will adapt the displayed language translations to those of most passengers arriving on each flight. For example, Japanese translations will be displayed when All Nippon Airways flights arrive, and Egyptian for flights arriving from Cairo or Luxor.

We laud the innovation, as this is the kind of relevant, just-in-time up-to-date information consumers are coming to expect from their portable devices, and from the institutions they frequent. By pulling all this data together and displaying it in baggage claim, when arriving passengers may not have connected their devices, and are most in need of it, Heathrow is setting the standard.

Expect to see the initiative rolled out to Heathrow's other terminals in the not so distant future. Expect to see a mix of adoption of the technologies in the industry as a whole: we wonder who the early adopters will be (a favourite airport near you, you hope!), and fully anticipate those airports that are still charging for WiFi to remain in the PaxEx dark for some time to come.

Friday, 15 May 2015

Departure lounge at Myanmar's Yangon International Airport
creativecommons image by mikecogh on flicrk

Look at any list of the world's hot travel destinations, and Myanmar will probably be on the list. The former nation of Burma, emerging after decades of being closed to tourists, is busy making plans to handle all those new visitors.

Myanmar currently has 3 international airports (along with about 30 domestic airports):

The on-again, off-again, plans to build a 4th is back on again with the recent announcement of new investors for the Hanthawaddy International Airport project [more]. Located in the central Bago region, just 80 kilometres from Yangon, the new greenfield Hanthawaddy International Airport will be capable of handling 18 million passengers, and is expected to open in 2018.

Construction on a 5th is already underway. Expansion of the renamed former domestic Tavoy Airport to international standards has commenced, with runway and other facilities to follow. Dawei International Airport (TVY) is being developed in conjunction with the Dawei Deep Seaport project, and will be fully operational by 2017.

Thursday, 30 April 2015

The NYC Port Authority, the organization that operates New York City's area airports (and more), has a new blog: PORTFOLIO

You'll want to check it out if you are an aviation buff and have an interest in airport history. On Twitter, follow @PANYNJ for blog post alerts (follow @NY_NJairports for more time-sensitive airport updates).

Friday, 3 April 2015

The new service, Airport Connect, provides a vital missing link between the city's public transportation system, and the Cairns International Airport, which has no public transit options. Passengers, airport staff and pedestrians who have no desire or budget to pay for a taxi or shuttle, or who are not staying at hotel with shuttle service, have had little choice but to walk.

Airport Connect will operate just once an hour, so it may not work for most passengers. But now, at least, they have a choice.

The motivation behind the move is sad, but also inspiring: 2 months ago a pedestrian died after being struck while walking along Airport Avenue. The new service means that Dinah Boughton's life was not in vain.

The Airport Connect service is not without its detractors, but we'll take a free bus service over no bus service at all. If the only thing better is a direct bus service from the city centre, well maybe that would be a good outcome. And if advocates for cycling and walking paths are heard, and additional facilities are created, then all the better.

The free bus experiment is limited to a 3-month trial period, which we think is a shame, as this isn't nearly enough time for visitors to learn about the service and begin to use it.

Nonetheless, it's a brilliant idea, and whoever seized the funding to get the project off the ground should be congratulated. Now it's up to both the public to show their support - by using the bus - and for airport executives to show their leadership - by standing their ground and extending the service. If government officials drop the ball by failing to permanently fund the initiative, then it really will be a shame.

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Let’s face the obvious fact – you will die at some point. Now, getting
over this depressed reality should not paralyze you from living life
and seeing the world in real-time versus from in front of a television
set.

It seems all too often that the world is becoming a small place
to travel within when the broad strokes of generalization of ‘no-go
zones’ are factored into trip planning. Generally speaking, the Middle
East is considered very volatile with the usual images of suicidal
bombers and revolution. Africa is considered dangerous for contacting
deadly viral diseases to war and to horrific crimes against locals and
tourists alike. Much of Asia, with the exception of the southeast portion, is
considered to share the same traits as the Middle East and Africa.

Right off the bat, most people now eliminate 2/3rds of the world and
stick to safe countries in safe regions to ensure a continuance of
life as they know it. And with the overload of information in people’s
lives, we thrive and make decisions based on a combination of news or
research snippets followed by gut reasoning.

When Ebola hit the news,
people were avoiding Africa and all parts of it, despite the fact it
only impacted three countries in West Africa and left the remaining 51
countries alone. While images of the Middle East show chaotic
conditions, much of the region is peaceful or safe to travel, or
countries considered dangerous generally have pockets of it, versus a
wide swath of territory (exception being ISIL in Iraq, Syria).

Unfortunately official country reports tend to reinforce these
stereotypes and this compounds the issue further with insurance
companies, travel companies and the likes also terminating or
intensifying their view of the area.

I am not suggesting you shrug
this information off completely but spend time doing research on where
you want to travel and what areas to avoid.

Admittedly, I went to Yemen last year as a tourist, a country that
only receives a handful of American tourists and likely even less
Canadians. Despite the political issues, kidnappings etc., I was able
to find pockets of the country that were very safe and was able to
enjoy it without dealing with hordes of tourists.

Traveling solo or
with a small group tends to attract less negative attention and
spending money with a reputable tour group also greatly assists with
navigating away from potential dangers.

Maybe the world is going to
hell in a hand-basket, but most of the world is still relatively safe
and if do your own detailed research, and do proper planning, you have the
opportunity to see reality in your own eyes versus the often drummed
up sensationalism of mass media.

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

The Plane Man, by Juan Ripollés - sadly, the sculptor was left out-of-pocket for expenses associated with the stunning work

The desire of some European politicians to spend future public funds
to help reinvigorate their domestic economies resulted in numerous
civil work projects, many of which were abandoned shortly after construction. In
places like Spain, the situation is glaringly obvious with public
buildings, pools and even airports sitting empty, based on failed
speculative theories on increased consumption and use.

In Castellon, a
province in NE Spain, a 15 year plan to construct an airport to
increase tourism to its postcard-perfect beaches eventually came into
existence 4 years ago. The project was launched with the hope it would tap into various
regional carrier markets, on the assumption that foreign money would
continually flow into the region’s hospitality and that the real
estate market would see increases on par with other parts of the world
.

Europe’s sustained economic recession, however, has resulted in high
levels of unemployment and corresponding less continental travelers
flocking to Spain, let alone relatively undiscovered regions such as
Castellon.

Despite the airport sitting idle beyond a few charter
flights, expenses were paid for security and rodent and bird
exterminators, anxiously preparing for the days when the airport would
receive national approval and international use.

This was more than an unneeded, useless €150 million boondoggle - the former politician who cooked up the idea, Carlos Fabra, is currently serving 4 years behind bars for tax fraud associated with the project. The renowned sculptor Juan Ripollés was left out of pocket for his masterpiece gracing the airport's grounds. A whopping €30 million was wasted on advertising. The private contractor hired to operate the airport for 50 years sued for cancellation of his contract. And it took f4 years to be approved as meeting regulatory requirements. No wonder Spaniards were sore about the ghost airport.

Well, the day of
waiting has come to an end.
Ryanair will start operating flights to/from Castellón de la Plana Airport, or Castellón-Costa Azahar Airport, with multiple weekly flights from London Stansted
and Bristol. Ticket sales have opened, and flights commence in September.

Sunday, 22 March 2015

While we are often inspired by innovative airport design and unique features, Frankfurt International Airport takes the cake, by going above and beyond what has become to be expected of world class airports.

Among the many passenger-friendly services at Frankfurt International Airport, the following strike us as definitely created with human creature comforts in mind [continue reading... ]

Sunday, 15 March 2015

All taxis in Manila - in the whole country of the Philippines actually - have been ordered to drop their fares.

The story is that the move is necessary with the reduction in oil prices around the world, but many are speculating that this is an Uber ridesharing countermove. Either way, it's being rolled out quickly (they've even called it "provisional"), and it's causing no shortage of confusion.

Type of signage you're
likely to see in your
Manila taxi
pic @AceGapuz

Here's the lowdown:

All Manila taxis have been ordered to reduce the starting meter fare by PHP 10

For Manila airport taxis, this means the starting fare has dropped from PHP 70 to PHP 60

Elsewhere in Manila, the starting fare drop is from PHP 40 to PHP 30

For reasons that are unfathomable, the fare drop does NOT appear on the meter!

It is the driver's responsibility to deduct the PHP 10 off the fare

There are severe penalties for drivers who do not give the reduction

Expect the reduction and pay attention to make sure you get the correct rate

The reduction applies elsewhere in the Philippines as well

It's not hard to see the flaws with this system: how is the traveler to know if the reduction is in place, if their driver does not tell them? With how quickly the change was rolled out, and the fact that it is being called "provisional", the possibility exists for the change to be reversed just as spontaneously (there is a pretty big pushback).

It's also making for some pretty dismal taxi drivers, all of who are taking the hit of the reduced fare. If you have a heart, tip well.